Digia Cyber Hackathon 9.9.: Students to put Digia’s systems to a tough test

06.09.2017

Digia Cyber Hackathon 9.9.: Students to put Digia’s systems to a tough test

On 9 September, three of Digia’s product families are put to an unusually tough security test, as Digia Cyber Hackathon challenges IT students of Laurea and Metropolia to a light-hearted hacking competition. Security is an essential part of today’s business and IT development. The Hackathon is part of Digia’s continuous investment in security awareness and culture.

EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which enters into force in May, has brought security to the fore in many companies and organisations. Digia has also introduced new services and solutions related to GDPR.

However, data privacy and information security are not restricted simply to the regulation: they are an essential part of all IT development and the operation of IT companies. The Digia Cyber Hackathon event held in September is part of Digia’s ongoing effort to promote and deepen the culture of security in the company.

Digia Cyber Hackathon challenges Digia’s security experts, product specialists and IT students to find security flaws in the Digia product families put to the test. The findings are used to improve the security of the tested systems. Digia endeavours to continuously develop its culture of security; the Hackathon is one way to promote and deepen awareness of how vulnerabilities and threats are created, prevented and fixed.

In the Hackathon. students attack the system from the outside, looking for security holes in the applications and trying to take advantage of them to hack the tested systems. The Hackathon provides the students with a unique opportunity to learn about security under the tutorship of Digia’s experts and using genuine information systems. Participation in the Hackathon may also help the students to get a chance to work on their thesis at Digia or to land an internship or even a job at Digia.

The applications to be tested are installed in a closed testing environment. The Hackathon will not affect the systems of the users of these product families.

“Information security has always been an important part of our business and culture. We are bringing our security offering to an even sharper focus. Data privacy is also at the heart of it right now,” says Mikko Jylhä , Senior Security Advisor, Digia.

“Organising an event like this takes courage. The results can be unexpected and take us out of our comfort zone. Regardless, I would say that this more than anything is a truly professional way of doing things, and it is simply wonderful to be a part of it! We will get valuable new information about our products and methods for the future,” says Maija Uotila, Project Manager of Digia Cyber Hackathon.